


Good Things Come In Threes

by super3000



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Soul Mate AU, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 12:59:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2349263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/super3000/pseuds/super3000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saw the following on tumblr: "maybe the little bruises and cuts that show up on your body seemingly out of nowhere are actually little injuries that happened to your soulmate and you get the same marks on your skin as them" and couldn't help myself. </p><p>So, a soul mate AU in which a certain degree of injuries transfers to a person's soul mate. Between them, Hardison, Parker, and Eliot have a pretty big history of injuries. At least once they figure it out they have each other to kiss them better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Things Come In Threes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short one. I may explore further in this verse if the mood strikes me later, but for now it's just the background and the get together. Hope y'all enjoy!

Not everyone has a soul mate. The frequency is thought to be roughly the same as red hair, though it’s hard to be sure since many people aren’t aware that they have a soul mate. The only indicator before intimate contact (usually kissing) is shared injuries, which are usually hard to track or verify. Everyone gets little bumps and bruises they can’t account for and no one wants to start a precedent that might allow child abuse to be passed off as a soul injury.

Most soul mated children grow up with occasional whispers or teasing comments, but no way to be sure until they meet their soul mate (or mates) by chance. More severe injuries may be noticeable—a bad break often results in a fracture for the soul mate. Of course, some kids grow up getting hurt enough that a few fractures or bruises no one actually remembers dealing out are no surprise. Some kids grow up with no one paying enough attention to notice or care. Those kids don’t usually grow up expecting a happy ending, even if there is one out there waiting for them.

Hardison acquired a few bumps and bruises in foster care. Life got better once he landed at Nana’s, but the aches he sometimes got for no reason never did. Nana took him to the doctor a few times, afraid he might have lupus or something. He didn’t, but they couldn’t be sure it meant a soul mate. Alec didn’t like to think so, because if he did that person must get hurt an awful lot, right? People just ached sometimes, right? Everyone got bruises sometimes, and he was a restless sleeper. He’d spent enough months hungry in the placement before Nana that the pit he felt in his stomach every so often in the year or two after that was probably just fear of feeling it again for real. Nana understood that and stockpiled a few of everyone’s favorites, no matter how ridiculous. There was always a minimum of two bottles of orange soda in her pantry.

It wasn’t til Eliot joined the military and got shot for the first time that Alec was sure.

He was in the fourth grade, taking a multiplication test when pain ripped through his arm, just above the elbow. It knocked him out of his chair and left him sobbing until he’d been carried to the nurse for an ice pack, a sling, and stronger painkillers than he’d expected them to have on hand. He figured maybe they had to have them for situations like this.

They ended up taking Hardison to the hospital. He had some temporary nerve damage, deep tissue bruising, and a lot of shared pain, though apparently not as much as the doctors expected from a wound like that. Hardison thought it was more than enough, thank you very much. His arm wasn’t normal for nearly two months. He learned a lot about computers and nerdy, indoor things in that time, plus he trained himself to be ambidextrous. 

After that, Hardison was more careful with himself, didn’t mess around with dangerous skateboard tricks or anything like that—his soul mate clearly had enough pain coming in. They didn’t need any extra.

:~:~:

Parker knew about soul mates the same way she knew about Christmas and birthdays and pets—she saw them on tv and she heard people talk about them. She knew they were Good Things and didn’t necessarily have place in her life. Seemed like this one did, though, because if there was one thing Parker knew, it was her body. She knew when she (or someone else) bruised it, didn’t feed it often enough, broke it. When things happened that she didn’t know about there was only one conclusion. 

It didn’t really impact her life much. She couldn’t stop them from getting hurt and there was no point in feeling guilty for the times she got hurt. It’s not like it was a choice. Supposedly she’d grow up and find them. Til then, she had lots of shiny things to steal. 

:~:~:

Eliot grew up kind of rough and tumble, even when everything was good. He climbed trees, he wrestled with his friends, he played football. One time he considered that he might have a soul mate out there somewhere when a minor tumble ended up with him fracturing his wrist, but wrists were finicky and he had landed on it. Plus, he was in love and it was the real deal and she hadn’t broken anything, so he put the whole matter out of his mind.

And then he joined the military and there were plenty of injuries. If he’d known there was someone else receiving his pain, he’d at least have tried to make different choices. 

:~:~:

When the crew started up, not a one of them suspected anything. Hardison and Parker had long ago grown used to achy hands. Neither Eliot nor Parker knew the difference between true surges of adrenaline and the second-hand caffeine flashes Hardison sent them on a fairly regular basis. 

It took a while. Hardison had long since stopped expecting to find his soul mate around the corner. They were out there somewhere, of course, but it didn’t seem like either of their lives were particularly lucky. Later, he’d look back on that first job and call himself ten kinds of idiot—he’d watched Eliot hit the men in front of him and not even noticed the ache in his hands. He was pretty used to it by now and to be fair, Eliot was something special. Anyone would be caught up watching him work.

:~:~:

It was annoying to get soul pains in the middle of a job, but it happened. All three were used to working around surprises. 

:~:~:

A few jobs in, Parker wondered if maybe, possibly, it could be Eliot. It didn’t make much sense, but he got a bruise and she had a bruise and it looked like a shadow of the same bruise. But Eliot was mean. He called her crazy. Parker didn’t like people who called her crazy. They weren’t a Good Thing and soul mates were a Good Thing, so. Not Eliot.

Plus she had sore muscles like she’d been hit right before she saw him again and he didn’t have a mark on him or a limp or anything, so it didn’t make sense anyway. 

:~:~:

It took an embarrassingly long time, but in their defense three-way matches were rare and kind of threw the normal ways of recognizing things off. When Parker and Hardison kissed it was nice—very nice—but it wasn’t fireworks and a clear indication of eternal love. Even when they kissed one hundred percent on purpose years down the road, it was normal. They needed Eliot for the big moment.

Parker worked it out first. Parker was watching because Parker was always watching. Parker saw where Eliot was hurt (sometimes, he only let them see him hurt when he couldn’t help it) and saw the hurts on herself and Hardison. Apparently you could have two soul mates? Weird but cool.

She didn’t do anything but think about it for a long time. Soul mates were a Good Thing, but so was the team. In Parker’s experience, Good Things didn’t come frequently or stay for long. And even if it was real and could last, and that meant being serious and tied to not just one but two people who might expect her to be places and not do things and be what they thought she was supposed to be. 

:~:~:

The first time Eliot broke a bone on a job it was pretty hard to ignore. It was just a finger, luckily, and Parker and Hardison were more than used to splinting minor injuries by then. Nate and Sophie were wrapping things up with a client while Eliot iced his injuries. Parker watched him from the other side of the room, wrapping her finger and carefully not putting weight on her bruised shin. 

Hardison came in mid-babble, fitting a foam and metal splint around his fingers as he did. “Eliot, uh, weird question, but, uh, which finger was it that you broke?” he asked awkwardly. “It wasn’t the left ring-finger, right? Because that would mean—and we would have noticed, right? I mean…” He trailed off under Eliot’s stare.

“Hardison, what happened to your hand?” Eliot asked, calm in the way he only ever was when something mattered too much. 

“It’s fractured. It’s a soul fracture, I know, I’ve had them before. I think I’ve got a soul mate who takes a lot of hits,” Hardison was staring at Eliot’s hand like he’d found something important.

“Really?” Eliot sounded pole-axed. They’d never seen him like this. “I didn’t know that I had a soul mate—growing up I never—“

“You don’t,” Parker piped up finally.

“Parker, it’s the same finger,” Hardison protested because this was it! It all made sense. Eliot had joined the military right out of high school and he was older than Hardison. He got hurt a lot, he used his hands as weapons all the time. Hardison had always been interested in Eliot and their fighting had long since become playful. And you couldn’t deny that the man was beautiful.

Parker stood up, but stayed on her side of the room. “I know. That part’s right. But he doesn’t have a soul mate. He’s got two,” she smiled and held up her own hand with the wrapped finger.

“Parker?” Hardison wanted to ask more, but that was all that came out.

“You’ve known about this for a while, haven’t you?” Eliot asked after a moment. Parker shrugged. If anyone could understand her taking her time over something they would.

“But, we kissed,” Hardison protested.

Parker shrugged again. No one said she was the soul mate expert. 

“Yeah, but that was only two of you. If it really is the three of us, maybe it has to be the three of us,” Eliot mused.

“That sounds complicated,” Hardison said as he sank onto a chair.

“Well, no one’s gonna force you if you don’t want—“ Eliot growled.

“No! No, I meant, just logistically!” Alec yelped. No way did he not want in on this. “Like, the geometry of three people kissing just sounds a little complicated. That’s all.”

Eliot looked like he wasn’t letting himself look relieved. “Well, doesn’t have to be kissing.”

Parker had crept across the room while they were being silly. She poked Eliot in the finger, and she and Hardison both flinched together. “Cool.”

“Hey! Stop poking me, Parker,” Eliot groused as she sat next to him.

Hardison looked happy, heartbroken, and hopeful all at once. “It really is us. It’s the three of us. Well, damn.” He covered his eyes with his unbroken hand.

“Alec?” Parker asked carefully. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea?

“Can I hug you? And buy you an ice cream?” Hardison asked without looking at them. “I know that sounds stupid, but when I was a kid that was the only thing I could think of that would maybe make you feel better because that’s what Nana used to do for me when I got hurt and with the amount you got hurt I thought maybe you didn’t have nobody doing that for you. So can I give you a hug and buy you an ice cream or a drink or something?”

“I didn’t get hurt that much,” Eliot protested. I mean, now maybe, but I’m an adult. I can—“

“You were practically still a kid the first time you got shot,” Hardison protested.

“Y’all felt that?” Eliot asked like it hurt. They nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know—I didn’t know there was anyone else getting hurt for my choices. I never meant to do that to you.”

“We know that,” Parker promised. “It’s not like you wanted to get hurt. And I kind of liked it.”

“What?” Eliot and Hardison asked in sync. 

“Ha! That was cool.” They were still looking at her funny. “I didn’t usually have anyone with me growing up. It was super inconvenient sometimes—stealing stuff without being able to use your arm or your leg or whatever can be kind of a challenge. But it was kind of cool knowing there was someone out there or whatever.” She shrugged again. “If I’d known there were two people, that would have been even cooler. You can hug me if you want.”

Alec stood up and took her up on the offer. When he released her Eliot was still looking like he didn’t know what to do, so Hardison grabbed him tight and didn’t let go until Eliot relaxed into it. Parker grinned at them and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss Hardison on the cheek because he was being adorable.

Everyone knew what a soul mate bonding was supposed to feel like—warm and a little dizzy like you’ve had too much oxygen all at once and you just know—but everyone also knows it happened from serious kissing or maybe even some below the belt action. Not a hug and a kiss on the cheek, but there was no denying that it was happening. 

“Seriously?” Eliot chuckled. “This is what does it? It’s supposed to be, you know, an intimate moment.”

Hardison waggled his eyebrows. “We could still have that moment, you know. I mean, if everyone’s amenable.”

“That sounds fun,” Parker agreed. “We should try kissing. Kissing sounds fun.”

“I am in favor of kissing, definitely,” Hardison said. “Eliot?”

“Kissing’s good,” Eliot murmured. He hadn’t stepped away from Hardison. He looked from Hardison’s mouth to Parker’s and back again. “Yeah, kissing’s real good.”

“Good.”

“Good.”


End file.
